Maximum PC

I have been searching around to try and determine the answer to my questions but I was hoping someone/people here might be able to save me some time.

I've been planning on getting a new system together sometime in the near future. My last 2 systems were custom built desktops but getting married has made having a portable gaming system a must; I'm guessing there's some married guys out there that know what I'm talking about .

I've been trying to determine a few different things about the gaming laptops that are out there:

1. How many different providers are out there (available in Canada)?
2. How many are worth looking at? (personally I wouldn't go near any Acer unit)
2. What manufacturers let you customize your system (ie. Dell/Alienware lets you to a point, Asus seems to go the 'find something close to what you want from an Asus reseller' way)?
3. Who has gaming systems that are docking station compatible (if any; Alienware systems don't seem to be)? I'd like to hook it up to my existing setup in my office when I'm in a position to do so (without needing to plug in each peripheral every time).
4. Do manufacturers whose systems support dual HDDs ship them with an empty bay if you order a single drive system (ie. so you can add a second HDD yourself) or do they come with only the single drive bay (like cars that don't have certain accessories; there's just a 'place holder' piece of plastic where the control would be)?

I figure that the specific manufacturers may be the only people that could answer some of the above questions but thanks to anyone that can provide some input. If this were about a desktop I wouldn't even be asking; custom built and put together on your own is the only way to go.

Thanks.

In addition to Origin, which is a relative new-comer to the boutique market (headed by the original founders of Alienware), I would look at DigitalStorm, Maingear, and Falcon Northwest for custom jobs. Sager also has a good line-up of quality laptops just to add to the list.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

To further expand on the query, I looked through all the makers you mentioned plus a bunch that MaximumPC has reviewed in the past and the only system that I was able to find that had an optional docking station was a Maingear 15" system that is 'Sold Out'.

Are there any other manufacturers that anyone is aware of that make gaming notebooks that have optional docking stations?

Thanks again.

Although it's very, VERY expensive, this monitor has one plug that feeds it the image and powers 2 USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB 2.0 ports, so if you plug in your keyboard and mouse you can use it as a docking station.

Being newly married, but a long time geek...I kinda shrug at most that stuff as being not important (and loosing an actual computer room due to another baby on the way has magnified this thought process)

Summed up, a 15.6" screen on an i5 Lenovo laptop for under $800 seems right for me. It's an IBM thinkpad by any other nomenclature and is a solid laptop. Gamer? Probably not...but I really don't expect fragging zombies from the couch as anything serious in terms of gaming.

When you talk about docking stations and all that, you're talking about a desk, space, screens... and might as well have a desktop and not even go this route. To me, you're replacing something here. If it's space, a docking station takes up more space and you still have a monitor on a desk. $2K for a gaming laptop or $300 for a computer with current parts available. I see that as a major problem in itself compared to a 2x4 piece of space in some room in the house.

This is just marriage dude; why change a thing at this point? It's you! When you need this space for babies, deal with it then...and it still doesn't change much.

@Avenger48: Thanks for the suggestion; might be an option if not many makers offer docking stations for their products. As you mentioned the price makes it seem to be a last resort.

@Chumly: Wow, kudos for coming out of left field there . I'm really not sure how to take your post...Are you criticizing me for being married and not turning my computer room into a nursery or something? That because I'm married I should no longer take enjoyment from gaming and should get a laptop that reflects that? I didn't see anything in your post remotely related my questions besides the fact that you're also married....

Going off of your comment about how you don't save space with a docking station: that's not my intention, portability is. I'm trying to have a gaming system that I can hook up to my current monitor, mouse, keyboard and speakers when I'm able to but can also take with me if I can't be in proximity to my current hardware; you can't really cart a Full Tower around...

I recently conducted a very thorough research in this very area when I wanted to build my new gaming laptop. Many brands are ...eh ok, and all should come with discrete graphics (SLI on the higher $ end) but you'll want to look for incorporation of recent technology into your build, i.e. USB-3.0, RAID capability, eSTAT, etc. I specifically focused on the systems using the new Sandy Bridge i7 CPU.

Clevo (Sager uses their barebone systems) has a few nice ones for customization (here). These come standard w/ eSATA, 2x USB 3.0, & allows choice of 1080 or lower resolution screens.

What I eventually went with was the MSI MS-16F2-ID1 (Specs Here) because it has 2 internal HD compartments on a 16" system allowing RAID, something only the larger 17.5" Clevo systems came with. I filled these with 2x 256GB Crucial C-300 (SATA III) SSD hard drives (RAID-0) resulting in a super-fast & highly power efficient array. My system boots to desktop in under 20 sec & easily lasts over 3 hours due to the low power consumption of these SSD drives. While laptops have yet to incorporate SATA III technology, that I've heard, using 6gb/sec drives ensures your system isn't bottle-necked at the hard drive. Other features of this MSI model are up to 16GB DDR3 1333 RAM (which I maxed out), 1080 resolution, HM67 chipset (used the i7-2720QM Sandy Bridge CPU), 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, eSATA, HDMI out, GigLan, hi-def audio, & integrated Blue-tooth/wireless-N.

Note: I stopped looking after finishing my build, about June 1st, so there may be another model out now to give my MSI a run, but for system prowess, configuration, and incorporation of the newest technology, it was hard to beat a couple of months ago.

-AegisFCCS

Correction: The MSI system above does NOT have integrated BT/WiFi-N - these cards are separate from the motherboard.

Thx.
-AegisFCCS

How would this work for you?
http://us.kensington.com/html/17444.html

There are so many kind of Laptop brands available in market. The most famous brands are Apple, Lenovo, Accer, Compaq, Dell and HP. Among all this i would refers to buy HP laptop because it provide good range of laptop in lower price rate and also good service.

Disregarding the fact that this is an old thread. While Apple make some beautiful products, OP mentioned he games so we will just nix them. And its Acer, not Accer. And Compaq is HP... for like the last decade.

While I like the design of the HP envy's, their gaming laptops are so much pieces of shit, a lot of them have been having overheating issues, specifically their i7 17" versions.